According to the present invention, the spray head can also be used for other air-propelled application processes that make use of the function according to the present invention of generating a flat jet at the spray head.
There are a number of fundamental technical principles in the field of application processes using spraying, for example, when spraying paint or spraying varnish. As well as the so-called airless processes that atomize paints at high pressure and apply them to a surface, there are many processes using compressed air. In these, a paint jet emerging from a nozzle is atomized by means of quantities of air (sheathing air) that flow past and is thus transported as atomized sprayed paint toward a working plane. The working plane that is arranged at an appropriate working distance for applying a coating is in this way struck by the paint jet and the paint is thus applied to it. Appliances that operate with compressed air, as well as so-called HVLP (high-volume low-pressure) appliances are, inter alia, known from the prior art and differ in some operating parameters, for example, the pressure of the air at the nozzle.
This genre of appliance from the prior art is suitable for providing a flat jet of paint, which has advantages when paint is applied to a surface. In comparison with a radially symmetrical round paint jet, a flat jet provides greater homogeneity in the application of paint, similar to applying it with a paintbrush or a roller, giving a much higher quality of paint coverage.
Paint spraying devices are known from the prior art, for example from EP 0 596 939 B1, in which a radially symmetrical round paint jet, emerging from a paint nozzle, is deformed by air deflection means which are arranged at the sides of the paint nozzle and take the form of air horns, so that a generated flat jet of paint is created in the region of a working plane.
However, the flat jet profiles which are generated using the prior art often create an inadequate shaping of the jet profile, in particular when highly viscous paint materials such as, for example, wall paint, or viscous varnishes are used. An improved flat jet profile is always desirable as the quality of the work and quality of the resulting paint coverage is greatly dependent on the jet profile of the paint jet provided by a paint spray gun.